Note 55 — Chapter I · SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS.

Geát, the eponymus of a race, Geátas, is found in the common genealogy previous to Wóden; his legend is alluded to in the Codex Exoniensis, pp. 377, 378, together with those of Ðeódríc, Wéland and Eormanríc. Witta in the Kentish line is found in the Traveller’s Song, l. 43. Offa in the Mercian genealogy occurs in the same poem, l. 69, in the fine epos of Beówulf, and in Saxo Grammaticus. Fin the son of Folcwalda is one of the heroes of Beówulf. Scyld, Sceáf and Beówa are found in the same poem, etc. These facts render it probable that many other, if not all the names in the genealogies were equally derived from the peculiar national or gentile legends, although the epic poems in which they were celebrated being now lost, we are unable to point to them as we have done to others.